Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The editors of the Best American Poetry Blog have generously posted "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" the first of two ABBA poems they'll be putting up, written collaboratively by Denise Duhamel and myself.

While you're there, check out the postings by this week's fabulous guest blogger, Moira Egan! Bravissima!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

I've had the pleasure of having my work mentioned on a couple of sites recently, and thought I would pass along some links to you-all. On August 4th, WFIU in Bloomington, Indiana, broadcast Jenny Kander reading my poems "Scar" and "Cardinal" on her lovely program "The Poets' Weave." Click here to listen to the podcast.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

I made it back a bit ago and decided to jump online before I begin the prospective ordeal that is returning the rental car (in case you haven't heard, I had a minor accident a few weeks ago that resulted in the insurance company declaring the Honda minivan--2001, 160,000 miles--a total loss).

The kids and I had a great time with family and friends in Ohio and PA. The drives were, for the most part, uneventful (I managed somehow to keep the kids from killing each other in the back seat, and Stella only got out of her seatbelt a couple of times). We were much more comfortable than I'd expected due to a surprise upgrade from "full-sized" to "luxury"--they gave us a Dodge Charger, a huge black mobile that my brother David called a "mafia car."

As always, re-entry is a little hard. Fortunately, the touch of flu I picked up at the end of the week has been summarily dispatched by a new miracle drug--Tamiflu--and I feel almost normal, physically.

Perhaps I will head to the gym after the rental gauntlet. And a quiet evening at home before things start up, bright and early, at FIT tomorrow. I hereby resolve to post more frequently, even while the crazy semester is going on.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Just a few miles south of my parents' house lies the lovely village of Yellow Springs, Ohio. It's sort of like a little oasis of artsiness and liberalism in conservative Southwestern Ohio. I find myself spending a lot of time there when I'm back home. The Antioch Writers' Workshop, Ohio Silver, and Dino's Cappucinos are some highlights. The kids are partial to Mister Fub's Party, an eclectic toy store that has been there at least since I was in college.

Have spent time there with some very good friends, taken yoga classes at a lovely studio on Dayton Street.

And, of course, there is the Local Celebrity, whom the kids and I saw hanging out on a bench the other day.

Monday, August 11, 2008

So here I am in (uncharacteristically cool, un-humid) Ohio. Had a wonderful family gathering last night--which turned out to be a birthday party for me, my bro John, and my nephew Sammy--who knew? Got to see all of the siblings who are still hanging around near here, and to meet Don, who will be my brother-in-law in May when he marries my youngest sister, Katy. I'm so happy that she has found love again after such a tragic loss, and that she and the boys have a great guy like Don in their lives now. And he is a fabulous cook--Don and Katy whipped up a Mexican fiesta of a feast. I'm glad there is some of that cheese dip left over.

Today my horoscope says, "Embrace your shortcomings by accepting where you are in life, but don't try to change your current attitude by rewriting your history. Write your future instead." Sounds like a plan, if I can manage it. Here's to the future...

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Just a reminder, in case you haven't received the email blast or Facebook invite. I'm excited to be part of this reading to promote the wonderful anthology of poetry by women!Tuesday, August 5, 6:00 p.m.Cornelia Street Cafe, 29 Cornelia Street, New York, NYLETTERS TO THE WORLD ANTHOLOGY READINGCover $7 (includes one house drink) Poets LouAnn Shepard Muhm, Mendi Lewis Obadike and Amy Lemmon read from the international anthology Letters to the World (Red Hen Press), joined by NYC poet Tim Suermondt.

OK, Red Hen absolutely, positively needs the final manuscript of Saint Nobody TODAY. I'm gonna finish it. They gave me an extension because I had a car accident last Thursday (I'm OK, but the car may be totaled--we're waiting to hear from the insurance company today). I just submitted final grades for my online classes on Wednesday. Stella's bus comes at 2:45, so I have five and a half hours.

I've been working on a couple of poems I have just not been satisfied with--one of them, "Venus of the Interstate," is even in the chapbook, Fine Motor.Time to shut the laptop and get to it.

Welspoken Nobody

About Me

Amy Lemmon is the author of two poetry collections: Fine Motor (Sow’s Ear Poetry Review Press,
2008) and Saint Nobody (Red Hen Press,
2009). Her work has appeared in Rolling
Stone,New Letters,Prairie Schooner, Verse, Court Green, The
Journal, Barrow Street, and many other magazines and anthologies. She is co-author, with Denise Duhamel, of the poetry chapbooks ABBA: The Poems (Coconut Books, 2010) and Enjoy Hot or Iced: Poems in Conversation and a Conversation (Slapering Hol Press, 2011). Amy
holds a PhD in English/Creative Writing from the University of Cincinnati. She
is Professor of English at the Fashion Institute of Technology and lives
with her two children in Astoria, Queens.